Hierarchical management system on distributed network management platform

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to communication network technology, more particularly to a hierarchical network management system on a distributed network management platform. The system is a network management system with multi-layer structure. It can manage large scale network through hierarchical configuration of numerous network management stations and classification of the management domains. For instance, the system may include upper layer network management stations and lower layer network management stations, in which the upper layer network management station has the functions such as configuring and monitoring the lower layer network management stations with help of corresponding devices, while the lower layer network management station provides services of data collecting, reporting and monitoring for the network management via simple network management protocol (SNMP). The hierarchical management system is flexible and expandable, and can reduce network load caused by large scale network management, and improve management performance.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage of International Application No.PCT/CN02/00407 filed Jun. 7, 2002 and published in Chinese on Jul. 17,2003 as International Application No. WO 03/058883 A1. This applicationclaims the benefit of Chinese Application No. 01130906.7 filed Aug. 24,2001. The disclosure(s) of the above applications are incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

The present invention relates to communication network technology, andmore particularly to a hierarchical management system on a distributednetwork management platform.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Network management is a kind of very important and complicated techniquein communication field. The prior network management technique is mostlybased on centralized management mode in which a single networkmanagement station directly controls several network devices. Thenetwork management station accepts operating reports on alarming,configuring and data collecting of network devices and alike fromdifferent network devices. Generally, when the network is rather small,for instance Local Area Network (LAN), it is enough for networkmanagement and monitoring using centralized network management system.But when scope of the network is wide and the number of network devicesis relatively larger, management capacity of the centralized networkmanagement system would be unable to meet requirements on networkmanagement and monitoring. The reason is that when a plurality ofnetwork devices send alarm information to the centralized networkmanagement station or the network management station collects data fromnetwork devices, the operation will inevitably occupy the networkbandwidth, deplete network resources, and even make the network trafficjammed; secondly, in case of managing numerous network devices inrelatively larger network, it is necessary for the centralized networkmanagement station to possess excellent ability of ensuring to solve thenetwork problems timely and effectively; what is more, this capacity ofthe centralized network management station directly influences itsmanagement scope, making the system difficult to expand.

With the rapid development of network scale, the traditional networkmanagement system is unable to meet the requirements from largenetworks, thus, it is desirable to provide a new type of networkmanagement solution to make network management more flexible andexpandable, reduce network load caused by network management, improvemanagement performance, cut response time, satisfy the increasingrequirements on network management, especially requirements on MAN andWAN.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It should be appreciated that the present invention provides ahierarchical management system on a distributed network managementplatform.

In a hierarchical management system on a distributed network managementplatform according to the invention, the network management stations areclassified into upper layer network management stations and lower layernetwork management stations based on network domains respectivelymanaged by the upper layer network management stations and lower layernetwork management stations, wherein

one upper layer network management station is connected to a pluralityof lower layer network management stations via a network managementprivate network and network management agents, the upper layer networkmanagement station is configured to authorize the lower layer networkmanagement stations, determine network domains of lower layer networkmanagement stations so as to implement division of network domains andmanage the lower layer network management stations and the networkdomains of lower layer network management stations via the lower layernetwork management stations;

the lower layer network management stations are configured to onlymanage the devices within their respective network domains, and provideinformation to their respective upper layer network management stationsactively or passively.

The characteristics of the technical scheme according to the presentinvention is that, the hierarchical management system is a networkmanagement system with multi-layer structure, for instance, it may be atwo-layer-structure network management system formed by upper layernetwork management station and lower layer network management station.Through hierarchical configuring of numerous network management stationsand division of their management domains, management for a large scalenetwork can be realized.

The main advantages of the present invention are as follows:

Easy to expand: adopting object orientated Management Information Base(MIB) definition style to determine available information from the lowerlayer network management station makes it easy to expand and edit, andsuitable for different configure scenario of network managementstations;

Easy to maintenance: agents may manage the network management stationswith individual application without any influence for prior functions ofthe integrated network management platform; once the platform isupdated, the operation can be achieved by modifying interior programs,keeping the outbound interface of the agents unchanged;

Easy to realize: because of relatively independence from the integratednetwork management platform, the agents can be installed on theplatform, and when the system is in use, it is no need to make a gooddeal of modifications on the original integrated network managementplatform;

Easy to inherit: through taking network management stations as a privatenetwork device and adopting network management station-agent mode andSNMP protocol, the system may enjoy the management functions for SNMPdevices which have been available in integrated network managementplatform.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of centralized network management systemin prior art.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the hierarchical management system on adistributed network management platform in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for overall architecture of thehierarchical management system on a distributed network managementplatform in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be described in more detail hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the centralized network management system in FIG. 1, anetwork management station 101 directly manages numerous network devices102 with agent servers which include network device 01, network device02 network device 03 . . . and network device N. The operations that arecarried out by network management station 101 include receiving alarmsand configure information from different network devices 102 andcollecting data from the network devices.

FIG. 2 illustrates a two-layer hierarchical management system on adistributed network management platform. As shown in the figure, anupper level network management station 21 in the hierarchical networkmanagement system is connected to agents 23 via a network managementprivate network 22 operating simple network management protocol (SNMP).One agent 23 links a lower layer network management station 24 whichdirectly manages its device management domain 25. The network managementstations, including upper layer network management station and lowerlayer network management stations, are management servers with networkmanagement function, which are the foundation of the distributed networkmanagement system and used to manage the devices directly. The networkmanagement platform is realized by way of client/server mode. The serverend is called network management server, and the server managesmalfunction, performance, safety log of the network and network devices,as well as network management system itself. The network managementclient end monitors and controls the network system via the networkmanagement server. The client and the server can operate in differenthost computers, meanwhile, with help of the network management server,customer can employ the network management client to monitor and controlthe network system.

Different network management stations control different network domainswhich are a subset of all the network devices in the network. Generallyspeaking, a network management station may manage one network domainindividually. There are two kinds of network domains in the presentinvention: direct management domain and management domain. Directmanagement domain is a collection of devices directly managed by anetwork management station, while management domain means a summation ofthe direct management domain and its lower layer network managementstation management domains controlled by the network management station.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network management stations of the hierarchicalmanagement system on a distributed network management platform areclassified into two levels, namely upper layer network managementstation 21 and lower layer network management station 24. With help ofnetwork management private network 22, the upper layer networkmanagement station 21 is connected to the lower layer network managementstations 24 via agents 23. The network management stations here refer torelatively independent network management systems constituting thehierarchical network management system. Different network managementstations supervise different network domains, and the management domainsof the lower layer network management stations are pointed by the upperlayer network management station. However, lower layer networkmanagement station can not exceed its authority to manage other devicesbeyond its management domain. Besides, there are safety servers in thehierarchical network management system of distributed network managementplatform to control the management domains.

The upper layer network management station and lower layer networkmanagement stations above possess not only network management functionon the integrated network management system, but also many otherfunctions. The detailed function descriptions for the upper and lowerlayer network management stations 21 and 24 are as follows.

1. The functions of upper layer network management station 21

providing authorization to each lower layer network management station24, determining management domains for each lower layer networkmanagement station 24, dividing management domains;

examining diagrams on topology structure of the lower layer networkmanagement stations 24;

managing the devices in management domains 25 of lower layer networkmanagement stations 24 directly; and

through corresponding settings, receiving alarm information on devicesand network management stations from the lower layer network managementstations 24, and real time monitoring, recording and taking statisticsfor the information.

2. The functions of lower layer network management station 24

implementing the network management function for its device managementdomain 25 based on the authorization from the upper layer networkmanagement station 21; and

providing information to the upper layer network management station 21and carrying out orders of the upper layer network management station21.

The hierarchical network management system above is an example withtwo-layer architecture, although the system can actually supportinteractive operations between multi-layer network management stations.The two-layer structure is enough for management in most cases, so allthe description here is based on the two-layer hierarchical networkmanagement system.

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to thespecific embodiment as shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating overall structure of ahierarchical management system on a distributed network managementplatform according to the present invention. In the embodiment, thesystem manages the network management stations as a type of privatenetwork devices in the network system. The upper layer networkmanagement station accomplishes functions such as configuring andmonitoring the lower layer network management stations via thecorresponding network management protocol. The upper layer networkmanagement station authorizes the lower layer network managementstations through a network management station management applicationmodule, and appoints different device management domains for each oflower layer network management stations. The upper layer networkmanagement station visits agents of the lower layer network managementstations via topology foreground/background, acquiring various data ofthe network devices in the management domains directly managed by lowerlayer network management stations. The agents of the lower layer networkmanagement stations operate the SNMP, and manage the functions such ascollecting, monitoring and reporting of the network management stationdata, and provide data of the network devices in its direct managementdomains to the network management station management application moduleof the upper layer network management station. The communicationprotocol between the upper and lower layer network management stationsadopts SNMP.

The hierarchical management system shown in the drawings includes twolayers which are marked with dash line, upper layer network managementstation 31 and lower layer network management stations 34. Each layer ofthe network management stations have respective network managementsystems 32 and 35 which control their individual direct managementdomains.

The specific process in which the upper layer network management station31 authorizes lower layer network management stations 34 and designatescorresponding management domains comprises the following steps.

In step 1, the network management system 32 of the upper layer networkmanagement station 31 sends an activating signal to the networkmanagement station management application module 312 via networkmanagement station topology foreground 321.

In step 2, the upper layer network management station managementapplication module 312 initiates management domain authorizationinterface 313.

In step 3, the management domain authorization interface 313 sends anauthorization signal to a management domain console 342 of a lower layernetwork management station 34.

In step 4, the management domain console 342 sends a confirmation signalto the network management system 35 of the lower layer networkmanagement station 34 to ask validity checking for the authorizationsignal.

In step 5, if the authorization signal is valid, the network managementsystem 35 will send a management domain identification signal to themanagement domain console 342, in this way, authorization anddesignation processes of lower layer network management station 34 madeby upper layer network management station 31 can be completed.

The process in which the upper layer network management station 31acquires data on the network devices in direct management domain 341 ofa lower layer network management station 34 comprises the followingsteps.

In step 6, the upper layer network management station 31 sends aninquiry order to a network management station topology background 314 ofthe upper layer network management station 31 via the network managementstation topology foreground 321.

In step 7, the network management station topology background 314 of theupper layer network management station 31 sends an inquiry order to anetwork management station agent 343 of a lower layer network managementstation 34.

In step 8, the network management station agent 343 of the lower layernetwork management station 34 then sends an inquiry order to networkmanagement system 35 of the lower layer network management station 34.

In step 9, the network management system 35 of the lower layer networkmanagement station 34 returns the inquiry results to the networkmanagement station agent 343 of the lower layer network managementstation 34.

In step 10, the network management station agent 343 reports the inquiryresults to the network management station topology background 314 of theupper layer network management station 31.

In step 11, the network management station topology background 314reports the inquiry results to the network management station topologyforeground 321 of the upper layer network management station 31, thatis, reports the inquiry results to the network management system 32 ofthe upper layer network management station 31.

The process in which the upper layer network management station 31acquires data on network management system 35 of lower layer networkmanagement station 34 comprises:

In step 12, the network management station management application module312 of the upper layer network management station 31 sends an inquiryrequest to a network management station agent 343 of a lower layernetwork management station 34.

In step 13, after sending an inquiry request to the network managementsystem 35 of the lower layer network management station 34 and receivingthe results (step 8, step 9), the network management station agent 343then reports the inquiry results to the upper network management system32 through the network management station management application module312.

In steps 14 and 15, the network management system 35 of the lower layernetwork management station 34 completes the operations such assearching, polling and data reporting for all devices in the directmanagement domain 341. And in steps 16 and 17, distributing andreporting of the information between the direct management domain 311and the network management system 32 of the upper layer networkmanagement station 31 are implemented.

An advantage of the present invention is that hierarchical management ona distributed network management platform can improve management abilityand reduce management workload. For instance, in a network managementsystem which can control N devices, if the hierarchical managementsystem on a distributed network management platform is adopted, then anupper layer network management station can manage N lower layer networkmanagement stations each of which in turn manages N devices, in otherwords, the whole hierarchical management system on a distributed networkmanagement platform can manage N×N devices. What is more, all theoperations of searching and polling for the individual devices arecompleted by the lower layer network management stations, in this way,network load caused by large scale network management is greatlyreduced. Moreover, this “plug-and-play” type hierarchical managementmode makes network management more flexible, expandable and adjustable.

1. A hierarchical management system on a distributed network managementplatform, comprising: network management stations, classified into upperlayer network management stations and lower layer network managementstations based on network domains respectively managed by the upperlayer network management stations and lower layer network managementstations, wherein one upper layer network management station isconnected to a plurality of lower layer network management stations viaa network management private network and network management agents, theupper layer network management station is configured to authorize thelower layer network management stations, determine network domains oflower layer network management stations so as to implement division ofnetwork domains and manage the lower layer network management stationsand the network domains of lower layer network management stations viathe lower layer network management stations; the lower layer networkmanagement stations are configured to only manage the devices withintheir respective network domains, and provide information to theirrespective upper layer network management stations actively orpassively.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein each upper layernetwork management station has a network management system controllingits management domain and each lower layer network management stationhas a network management system controlling its direct managementdomain.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the upper layernetwork management station further comprises: an upper layer networkmanagement station management application module and a management domainauthorization interface, configured to authorize the lower layer networkmanagement stations and determine network domains of lower layer networkmanagement stations; a network management station topology foregroundand a network management station topology background, configured tovisit the network management station agents of the lower layer networkmanagement stations so as to obtain various data of the network deviceswithin direct management domains of the lower layer network managementstations; and the upper layer network management station managementapplication module is further configured to obtain various data of thenetwork devices within the direct management domains of the lower layernetwork management stations through inquiring the lower layer networkmanagement station agents and the network management system of the lowerlayer network management stations.
 4. The system according to claim 2,wherein said direct management domain is a collection of devices withinthe network domain directly managed by a network management station; andsaid management domain is a summation of all the devices within thedirect management domain of a network management station and all networkdomains managed by the network management station.
 5. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein one network domain is a subset of allnetwork devices in the network, and one network management station isconfigured to manage one network domain individually.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said network management platform isimplemented by a client/server mode; said server is a network managementserver with the functions of network management, the server isconfigured to manage performance, malfunction, safety, log of thenetwork and network devices, as well as the network management systemitself; said client end is configured to monitor and control networkmanagement system via the network management server.
 7. The systemaccording to claim 6, wherein said client end and said networkmanagement server are located in the same or different host computers.8. The system according to claim 3, wherein said direct managementdomain is a collection of devices within the network domain directlymanaged by a network management station; and said management domain is asummation of all the devices within the direct management domain of anetwork management station and all network domains managed by thenetwork management station.